Page 8- "His attempts to find a "vater closet" in a department store would usually lead us to the drinking fountain or the home furnishing section. Asking my father to ask the watiress the deffintion of "sloppy joe" or "tater tots" was no problem. His translation, however , were highly suspect."
This section from the book made me really think about how hard our language is to learn and speak. Though to us speaking English comes natural, to other people it can be very complex and hard to learn. So a lot of times when people get frusteraed because the person they are talking to isn't saying it right or has a "weird" acent, just try to remember that we have one of the most challenging languages in the world.
Page 11- "Noticing some insects in our house one day, my mother asked me to call the exterminater. I looked up the number, then told my mother to call and say, "We have silverfish in our house." My mother grumbled, dialed the number, and said, "Please come rrright a-vay. Goldfeeesh all over dee house." The exterminator told her he'd be over as soon as he found his fishing pole."
For me this connected to Children of the River because Sundara and her family also have trouble when they are talking and reading in English to other people. Especially when reading the letter.
Learning another language is so hard and to then try and understand all of the various meanings of words depending on how they are used in a sentence. Oh my.
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